Clemson University's Dr. Rhondda Thomas discusses the forthcoming book A Nickel and A Prayer. This book, the second novel of WVU Press' Regenerations Series, was written by Jane Edna Hunter, one of the most influential African American social activists of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. Learn more about this title Here.
West Virginia Univertisy Professors of Law andré cummings and Anne Lofaso talk about their new book Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in 21st Century Sports Law. This book is an in depth look at the current state of sports law for both professional and collegiate sports. It features over 30 contributors.
See Anne Marie Lofaso's full interview here.
See andré douglas pond cummings' full interview here.
Learn more about this title here.
West Virginia University Director of New Media John Antonik discusses his new book "Roll out the Carpet". This book takes a look back at the history of WVU's Basketball team and features over 500 never before published pictures. Learn more about this title Here
Sandy Baldwin, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Center for Literary Computing at WVU, talks about our upcoming title Regards Croisés: Perspectives on Digital Literature. Find out more about this title here.
Lee Maynard's reading of his novel The Pale Light of Sunset at the West Virginia Book Festival. Learn more and purchase this book Here.
Learn more about Lee Maynard and his writing process.
Watch Part Two and Part Three of this reading.
Lee Maynard's reading of his novel The Pale Light of Sunset at the West Virginia Book Festival. Learn more and purchase this book Here.
Learn more about Lee Maynard and his writing process.
Watch Part One and Part Three of this reading.
The title of your book, A Strike Like No Other Strike, proclaims the Pittson Coal Strike was unique. What is it that makes this particular strike so unusual?
My concerns in writing the book were about the legal aspects of the case. My concern was to write a book about resistance to law, which is something I’ve long been interested in. I think what is distinctive about the Pittson Strike is the organization of the resistance by the United Mine Workers; the large number of arrests, the large number of acts of anonymous violence, the amount of litigation and the legal penalties which were later retracted. All of those kind of made it a unique strike. Of course the phrase “a strike like no other strike” actually comes from the transcripts of one of the trials, and was stated by one of the miners who later went on to become a politician.
Do you think today there could be strike of this proportion?
I don’t think so in the coal industry. I think it’s questionable whether one could occur in many areas of America because unions have been under such tremendous attack by the political right that they have lost a lot of authority in America. Compared to where unions were 70 years ago, unions have far less power.
What caused the Pittson Coal Strike?
Well the strike was actually caused by the fact the contract had expired between Pittson and the UNWA. During negotiations on a new contract the company undertook some actions that affected widows, survivors, and retirees largely as a measure to force the union to accept what the union regards as a less than satisfactory contract.
During your extensive research for the book you interviewed several strikers and widows. Are there any particular interviews that stand out in your mind and why?
I interviewed dozens and dozens of people. Some of them were just brief conversations with people in informal settings and there were some people I talked to for some five to six hours. I think one interview that really struck me was when I interviewed a gentleman, a former miner, who had been a pretty active participant in the strike along with one of his friends. He had black lung and every five minutes or so he had to take a break to get his oxygen. These two guys had actually collected and taped on VHS tapes every newscast of coverage of the strike. I sat in the living room of this house and it was just amazing to watch with them because certain people from the coal company would come onto the screen and they’d shout out “BOOOO” or something like that.
Another man I interviewed, I offered to come to his house but we met at a motel I was staying at. He came by and I looked out and said to myself, “Oh my gosh, there is a guy with one leg coming.” That’s pretty scary. You know that’s pretty upsetting. He had lost his leg in a mining disaster.
Is there any particular message you want your audience to take away from the book, one main point?
My basic lesson is one of broad theory, not about coal strikes. It’s about what happens when people resist the law. What I’m interested in from a scholarly perspective is whether resisting or opposing the law can really change their lives or change the world. You know it’s kind of a mixed bag, mine is just a case study of one instance. I think what we don’t know enough about is litigation, you know the strike lead to a lot of litigation, and whether or not the law can help or impede social change. There is also a hypothesis that says “the law favors the ‘haves’ over the ‘have not’s.” I think the question is to what degree can people use the law, particularly if they’re “have not’s,” to better themselves. The question is whether or not it’s through the courts that change can occur or whether the courts can impede it. I decided to take a case that was really quite different from the standard civil liberties cases, like the rights of women or racial minorities, and take a look at it in a different context.
In the first chapter, you emphasize the book is not merely a historic account but a “tale” and you compare it to the tale of Robin Hood. Can you elaborate on this comparison?
Yes, what I’m trying to get at is a tale of resistance to authority. It’s also not a standard history and I tried to focus on the legal aspects. What I wanted to get at was the way law plays a role during conflicts and the way which law deals with situations in which people are unhappy with their circumstances.
Since the original release of the book ten years ago what have you been working on? What can we expect to see from you in the future?
For a long time I’ve been involved in two or three things. I’m still writing a little on resistance to the law and I’ve got a piece coming out. I’ve long been involved in the West Virginia Politics Book as a co-author and after the strike book we did a second edition which took up a great deal of my time. I’ve done a little work on censorship and also work on non-enforcement of the law, particularly animal-law and why most animal-laws aren’t enforced.
Is there one thing you’ve learned personally from the experience of researching and writing the story of the Pittson Coal Strike?
I think we fail to recognize sometimes how hard life can be for working class America. We sit here in these nice, well semi-nice offices, and it’s a nice clean job. I think too many Americans, particularly in the business management community forget, and maybe it's revealed by these TV shows like Undercover Boss, they really don’t realize how hard these people work and how tough it can be. There is a lack of understanding of how hard it is for some people in “dirty jobs.”
Did you set out writing this novel with an outline or did the story unfold as you went?
The novel grew out of a short story entitled “Escapee,” which first appeared in the Beloit Fiction Journal and subsequently, as the title story of my first book. I never work with an outline. My fiction, rather, pursues a character or characters in a situation, trying to discover where it will lead. Once the characters are in place, so to speak, I try, as Andre DuBus said, simply to “follow them home.”
Is the river described the New River Gorge, but with a different name? Or is the setting completely fictionalized?
Not the New River Gorge, though I live along the banks of the New River elsewhere. The setting is a patchwork quilt of bits and pieces of very real places in the Appalachians of southwestern Virginia, stitched into a completely imaginary place. As the poet Marianne Moore said, it’s “an imaginary garden with real toads in it.”
Would you describe yourself as a novelist, poet, essayist?
I’ve published poems and essays, true, but I think I’d describe myself primarily as a “fiction writer” for now. When I publish a second novel, then we can say I’m a “novelist.”
Describe the intimacy you feel when out in the water.
“When out in the water,” as you say, I step “out of my head.” I like it there.
Describe the feeling when you knew you were done.
I felt the need to drink a lot of beer and sleep a lot.
Did you plan on having gender play a prominent role or did that just occur?
The tweaking of stereotypical gender roles was overtly conscious only in terms of the initial conception to make the central character a fisher woman—as the book says, in “a place where a woman just goddamned wasn’t supposed to be.” The juxtaposition of contrasting elements is what makes for dramatic conflict, after all. And I’d have to confess that I was consciously determined that the central women in the novel, Sandy and Margie, would resolve things on their own terms and would most certainly not be “rescued” by men. But beyond that, the gender issues, so to speak, in the novel grow out of paying attention to the development of these two women as they are. I’ve known plenty of women with the sort of relentless and independent determination you can see in Sandy and Margie—and they’re the sorts of women I’ve always been drawn to. Simple, but true.
What were the difficulties you came across writing from a woman’s point of view?
It’s not so difficult if you pay attention to the women around you (and I have), and if you don’t presume to speak for women, in general, but rather to bring these particular women to life. One of the great transgressions a writer can commit is, as Foucault said, “the indignity of speaking for others.” I try to remember that—and just tell the story as it needs to be told.
Did you ever have the experience of showing a passage of this story to your wife/another female and her being like “rewrite this: a woman would not say this/act in this way.”
A couple of times.
Do you see a female audience for this novel or do you think a male and female audience would benefit?
There’s an obvious hook for a female audience, given the protagonist and situation of the novel, but I’d certainly hope it would appeal to both—it should—it has so far.
What book signings do you have scheduled in the near future?
Nothing specific scheduled right now until the West Virginia Book Festival in October.
What workshops will you be teaching?
I’ll be teaching at Wildacres Writers Workshop, along with Ron Rash, Ann Hood, and others, in North Carolina (July 3-10).
Do you have any projects in the works? If so, please describe.
Yes, new work is in progress. Sorry—I never discuss work in progress. Not trying to be coy or snotty—it’s just a quirk of mine—like a sports superstition—don’t want to jinx it.
What are your future plans?
I’m an English professor, a fiction writer, and a fisherman—it’s what I am—can’t help it. Ain’t nothin’ changin’.
David H. Sutton is a native of Helvetia, West Virginia. He received his bachelor's degree from Davis & Elkins College and Masters in History from West Virginia University. He currently makes his home in New Hampshire.
As a native of Helvetia, how did your authoring the history of your hometown affect your perceptions of heritage?
I had been steeped in the Swiss German heritage since I was a child, but the research really put it in context for me and gave me the bigger picture. I became very aware of how difficult and dangerous the 19th Century Atlantic migration had been for many immigrants and how strong and determined my ancestors had been. I also had a first-hand experience of the Americanization process and how that affects the perception and understanding of one's ethnic heritage.
What motivated you to compose such an exhaustive treatment of your hometown?
It began as a "simple" oral history project, hoping to save the memories of a generation of older Helvetians in the 1980s. However, as I got into it, I became very excited, not only by people's enthusiasm, but by the photographs and written records that were surfacing. One thing led to another until finally 10 years later we had the first edition of the community history weaving together all the research up to that point.
How did your background in historical study affect the way you approached the topic?
I approached the topic not just as a historian, but as a sociologist which was my under-graduate training. I wanted to know not just what happened, but why and what it meant to the people living during that time. I wanted to know what made this community of Swiss German immigrants tick, what their experience was.... how they completely recreated their lives in a foreign land. It was really fun!
What broader historical contexts does Helvetia, as a micro-history, most connect with?
The broader context is the Great Atlantic Migration of the 19th century, and then more specifically, Swiss immigration to the States and to the Appalachian region.
What research materials did you collect and study while writing?
I collected everything I could get my hands on from family photos, oral history accounts, written records, and even Swiss documents. I learned German and spent a summer in Switzerland researching the archives there. Lots of good stuff turned up.
How long did it take for you research and write Helvetia?
From start to finish it was about 10 years. That included grad school and writing my MA thesis on Helvetia.
What difficulties did you encounter during the writing process?
I had collected so much the biggest task was condensing and weaving the material into a coherent, readable narrative. At this point, c. 1984, I had no computer and was typing the text on a small, home typewriter. It seems archaic now!
What satisfaction have you derived from addressing such a personal topic?
There have been many satisfactions. Helvetia is a unique and interesting community worthy of having its story told in detail and with accuracy. It was truly a piece of community service for me. Seeing how all these families I knew as a child wove into the tapestry of this little town was fascinating and often nostalgic. To have a lasting record of all that is very satisfying to me.
Do you have any other projects in the works?
No new projects, but this one feels very complete!